Squirrels and other climbing vermin cause many millions of dollars damage and otherwise unnecessary maintenance annually to the national power grid and standalone assets. Among the negative effects is when the vermin unwittingly create a short out condition which may simply blow a fuse or trip a circuit out causing loss of service. During the short out condition in higher voltage applications the event can create destructive plasma that can cause even more expensive physical damage well beyond a simple trip out. And there is the issue of direct damage caused by chewing and other activity.
Animal and bird guards are old in the industry as the need for such became apparent as soon as a grid was developed, Many variations of devices to prevent contact by the animal or bird between high and lower potentials exist. Another avenue is to prevent the creature from getting to the area where contact may be made or actual physical damage by the creature, chewing etc., can be accomplished.
Many variations of animal deterrents for power grid and other assets appear in patents and non-patented devices. They range from spike guards to collars to rotating drum and collar sections to electrical detection and shock deterrent to even fluid spray for birds. The current invention utilizes spikes arranged to inhibit egress, rotating surface spines to create an unsteady grasp and a pivot arm having T bars presented for opportunistic climbers. However, as the vermin applies its body weight to the T bar the pivot arm rotates bringing claw spikes from behind the base spike array to create an apparent capture motion combined with the distal ends of the claw spikes giving a tactile tap to the body of the vermin.